Insulating structural assembly and stud member for forming same

Abstract

Insulating stud members comprising a foamed core having a sheet-form fastening member affixed to one surface and a thin moisture-impervious sheet affixed to the other surface and extending beyond the edges of the core to provide sealing flanges, and assemblies comprising a plurality of abutting insulating panels joined by the stud members, the panels each having a foamed core slab and a rigid facing sheet bonded to the core slab on one side thereof and a recess extending along the free edge of each of the adjacent core slabs, the recesses of adjacent panels cooperating to define a continuous open channel therebetween of dimensions just sufficient to receive a stud member so that the flanges thereof engage the surface of the insulating panels, fastening means extending through the insulating panels and having their ends embedded in the sheet-form fastening members of the stud members, and the sealing flanges being sealed to the surfaces of the insulating panels by means of a sealing material.

I claim: 
     
       1. An insulating stud assembly comprising a stud member adapted to join a pair of abutting insulating panels each having undercut edges which, when the panels are abutted, form a complementary panel to receive said stud member and a sheetform moisture-impervious layer affixed to one surface of said stud member having margins extending beyond the edges of said stud member adapted to underlie said panels and to provide sealing flanges for holding a sealing material in contact with said panels, said stud member comprising an insulating slab layer laminated to a fastening means layer of a material substantially harder than said slab layer adapted to receive elongated metal fastening means and to hold the same tightly. 
     
     
       2. An insulating stud assembly according to claim 1, wherein said sheet-forming member is of aluminum and said fastening means layer is of wood. 
     
     
       3. An insulating stud assembly according to claim 1, in which the stud member has an L-shaped cross-section and is adapted to join a pair of insulating panels perpendicularly disposed with respect to each other, one leg of the L having a length equal to the undercut portion of one panel and the other leg of the L having a length equal to the thickness of the said one panel at the undercut, plus the length of the undercut portion of the complementary panel. 
     
     
       4. An insulating stud assembly according to claim 3, wherein said sheet-form moisture-impervious layer also has an L-shaped cross-section and is formed of aluminum and said fastening means is formed of wood. 
     
     
       5. An insulating stud assembly according to claim 1, wherein said slab layer is of a rigid foam plastic material. 
     
     
       6. The insulating stud assembly according to claim 5, in which the plastic material is halogenated hydrocarbon-blown polyurethane having a K factor of about 0.15. 
     
     
       7. The insulating stud assembly according to claim 1, in which sealing flanges carry a layer of resilient, non-hardening sealing compound. 
     
     
       8. The insulating stud assembly according to claim 7, in which the sealing compound is a silicone rubber caulking compound.